Substrate processing apparatus and method for processing substrates

ABSTRACT

The disclosure relates to a substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a first reactor constructed and arranged to process a rack with a plurality of substrates therein; a second reactor constructed and arranged to process a substrate; and, a substrate transfer device constructed and arranged to transfer substrates to and from the first and second reactor. The second reactor may be provided with an illumination system constructed and arranged to irradiate ultraviolet radiation within a range from 100 to 500 nanometers onto a top surface of at least a substrate in the second reactor.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is continuation of, and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/797,346 filed Feb. 21, 2020 titled SUBSTRATEPROCESSING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING SUBSTRATES, which claimsthe benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/809,191,filed Feb. 22, 2019, and titled SUBSTRATE PROCESSING APPARATUS ANDMETHOD FOR PROCESSING SUBSTRATES, the disclosures of which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety.

FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to a substrate processingapparatus for processing a plurality of substrates. More particularly,the disclosure relates to a substrate processing apparatus, comprising:

a first reactor constructed and arranged to process a rack with aplurality of substrates therein;

a second reactor constructed and arranged to process a substrate; and,

a substrate transfer device constructed and arranged to transfersubstrates to and from the first and second reactor.

BACKGROUND

Substrate processing apparatus also called furnaces may be provided withreaction chambers to create fine dimension structures, such asintegrated circuits, on a plurality of substrates supported in a rack.In a typical substrate treatment step the substrates in the rack may beheated. Further, reactant gases may be passed over the heated substrate,causing the deposition of a thin layer of the reactant material on thesubstrate to be treated.

A series of treatment steps to deposit a layer on a substrate is calleda recipe. Through subsequent deposition, doping, lithography, etch andother processes the layers are made into integrated circuits, producingfrom tens to thousands or even millions of integrated devices, dependingon the substrate size and the circuits' complexity.

Various process parameters are carefully controlled to ensure the highquality of the resulting deposited layers. One such critical parameteris the substrate temperature during each recipe step. During chemicalvapor deposition (CVD), for example, the deposition gases react withinparticular temperature windows and deposit on the substrate. Differenttemperatures result in different deposition rates and quality andtherefor it is important to accurately control the substrate temperatureto bring the substrate to the desired temperature before the reactiontreatment begins.

The substrate, however, may comprise features that are temperaturesensitive and therefor the temperature may be limited to a certainmaximum to avoid damage to those sensitive features. This may lead tocontradicting requirements in which for productivity, quality and/orreactivity the temperature should be high, while to avoid damage to thefeatures on the substrate, the temperature should remain low.

By irradiating the top surface of the substrates with ultravioletradiation, it may be possible to provide energy to the top surface forcertain processes while not overheating the substrate. The energy maylead to a better quality of the deposited layer.

Incorporating an illumination system constructed and arranged toirradiate ultraviolet radiation into a furnace which is also used for adeposition process may be difficult, since the deposition process mayalso deposit on parts of the illumination system deteriorating thetransmission of ultraviolet radiation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form. These concepts are described in further detail in thedetailed description of example embodiments of the disclosure below.This summary is not intended to identify key features or essentialfeatures of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used tolimit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

According to an objective, it may be desirable to provide a substrateprocessing apparatus, comprising a first reactor constructed andarranged to process a rack with a plurality of substrates therein; asecond reactor constructed and arranged to process a substrate; and, asubstrate transfer device constructed and arranged to transfersubstrates to and from the first and second reactor. The second reactormay be provided with an illumination system constructed and arranged toirradiate ultraviolet radiation within a range from 100 to 500nanometers onto a top surface of at least a substrate in the secondreactor.

By irradiating the surface of the substrates with ultraviolet radiationin the second reactor, it may be possible to provide energy on the topsurface. This energy may be provided, while the risk of overheating thesubstrate is minimized. The energy may improve the quality of thedeposited layer.

The illumination system may be constructed and arranged to irradiateultraviolet radiation with a range from 100 to 500, preferably 150 to400, and even more preferably 170 to 300 nanometers. The first reactormay comprise an inlet constructed and arranged to provide a firstprecursor in the first reactor to deposit a layer on the substrates inthe rack.

According to an embodiment, there may be provided a method of processinga substrate comprising:

providing a substrate in a rack with a plurality of substrates;

loading the rack with a plurality of substrates in a first reactor;

providing a first precursor in the first reactor to deposit a layer onthe substrates;

unloading the rack with a plurality of substrates from the firstreactor;

transferring a substrate with the deposited layer to the second reactor;and,

illuminating the deposited layer of the substrate in the second reactorwith ultraviolet radiation within a range from 100 to 500 nanometers.

For purposes of summarizing the invention and the advantages achievedover the prior art, certain objects and advantages of the invention havebeen described herein above. Of course, it is to be understood that notnecessarily all such objects or advantages may be achieved in accordancewith any particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, for example,those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention may beembodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes oneadvantage or group of advantages as taught or suggested herein withoutnecessarily achieving other objects or advantages as may be taught orsuggested herein.

All of these embodiments are intended to be within the scope of theinvention herein disclosed. These and other embodiments will becomereadily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription of certain embodiments having reference to the attachedfigures, the invention not being limited to any particular embodiment(s)disclosed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

It will be appreciated that elements in the figures are illustrated forsimplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. Forexample, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may beexaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding ofillustrated embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 shows, diagrammatically and partially exposed, a perspective viewof an apparatus suitable for the illumination system according to anembodiment;

FIG. 2 shows, diagrammatically, a plan view of the apparatus accordingto FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 3 shows, diagrammatically, a plane view of a cross-section of asubstrate rack with a substrate that is illuminated with an illuminationsystem according to an embodiment;

FIG. 4 a shows an illumination system formed in a helical form accordingto an embodiment;

FIG. 4 b depicts a portion of a gas discharge lamp for use in anillumination system according to an embodiment;

FIGS. 5 a-5 d depict an illumination system transmitting radiationaccording to a further embodiment;

FIG. 6 depicts schematically a side view of a cross section of asubstrate processing apparatus according to a further embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Although certain embodiments and examples are disclosed below, it willbe understood by those in the art that the invention extends beyond thespecifically disclosed embodiments and/or uses of the invention andobvious modifications and equivalents thereof. Thus, it is intended thatthe scope of the invention disclosed should not be limited by theparticular disclosed embodiments described below.

An apparatus 1 suitable for the illumination system according to anembodiment may be indicated in FIGS. 1 and 2 . Said apparatus 1 maycomprise a housing 2 and may in general be installed partially orcompletely in a so-called “clean room.” In addition to housing 2,partitions 3, 4 and 5 may be present, as can be seen in particular fromFIG. 2 . Housing 2 may delimit, with partition 3, reactor area 21. Asubstrate handling chamber 22 may be delimited between housing 2 andpartitions 3, 4. A cassette handling chamber 23 may be delimited betweenpartitions 4 and 5 and housing 2. The apparatus 1 may further comprise acassette introduction portion 33.

First and second reactor chambers 6, 7, may be arranged in reactor area21. Said reactor chambers may be positioned vertically and substrateracks, indicated by 12, filled with substrates 13, may be moved into thereactor chambers 6, 7 in the vertical direction from below. To this endeach reactor chamber may have a rack handler comprising an insertion arm14, which is movable in the vertical direction with the aid of a spindle38. Only one insertion arm 14 can be seen in the drawing of FIG. 1 ;however, there may be two insertion arms 14 on both sides of theapparatus.

The substrate rack 12 may be provided at the bottom with an insulatingplug, which is not indicated in more detail, which provides a seal withrespect to the reactor chamber. The reactor chamber may be referred toas a furnace and may be provided with a heater to heat the substrates.

The rack handler may comprise a rotary platform 11, provided withcut-outs 15, arranged in the reaction area 21. Said cut-outs 15 may beshaped such that, if the cut-outs 15 have been brought into the correctposition, arm 14 is able to move up and down through the cut-outs. Onthe other hand, the diameter of the bottom of the substrate rack may besuch that said diameter is larger than the cut-out 15 in the platform11, so that when the arm 14 moves downwards from the position shown inFIG. 1 the substrate rack 12 may be placed on rotary platform 11 and maybe removed therefrom again in a reverse operation.

The substrate racks 12 may be fed to both reactor chambers 6 and 7 withthe rack handler. It may be possible to perform a successive treatmentso that one rack is first treated in the first reactor and secondly inthe second reactor. It may also be possible to allow parallel groups ofsubstrate racks 12 to be treated exclusively by reactor chamber 6 andexclusively by reactor chamber 7. Said substrate racks 12 may beprovided with substrates 13.

Substrates 13 may be supplied in (transport) cassettes 10 which, fromthe introduction portion 33, may be placed in store 8 through a closableopening 34 with the aid of arm 31 of the cassette handling robot 35. Arm31 may be provided with a bearing surface 32 which has dimensions alittle smaller than those of the series of cut-outs 26 in rotaryplatforms 27. A number of such rotary platforms may be provided oneabove the other in the vertical direction in store 8. Arm 31 may bemovable in the vertical direction with the aid of cassette handlingrobot 35. Arm 31 may be mounted such that said arm is able not only topick up or remove cassettes from or to introduction portion 33 to orfrom store 8, but also to make it possible to move cassettes from or tostore 8 to or from rotary platform 30.

Said rotary platform 30 may be constructed such that on rotation thecassette is placed against partition 4 where an opening 37 has been madeso that, after opening the cassettes, substrates can be taken one by onefrom the cassette concerned with the aid of arm 24 of a substratehandler and can be placed in the substrate rack 12 located in substratehandling chamber 22. Said substrate rack 12 is supported by a hinged arm16 being part of the rack handler and provided with a bearing surface 17at the end, the dimensions of which are somewhat smaller than those ofcut-outs 15 of rotary platform 11. Said arm 16 may be able to move withthe substrate rack through a closable opening in partition 3 by rotationabout rotation point 18. A closure may be provided in order to be ableto close opening 19 between reaction area 21 and substrate handlingchamber 22.

An operator or an automated cassette transport system (not shown), mayload store 8 by introducing a number of cassettes on introductionportion 33. Control operations may be done on panel 36. Cassettes 10 maybe transferred from the introduction portion 33 with the aid of arm 31into the storage compartments 9 made for these cassettes in store 8. Bystarting from the lowest position for removing the relevant cassette 10from portion 33 through the opening 34, said cassette can be movedupwards for moving into a higher compartment 9 of the store 8 by thecassette handling robot 35. By rotation of the store 8, it is possibleto fill various compartments 9 with cassettes 10.

The cassettes 10 concerned may be removed from the store by arm 31 andplaced on rotary platform 30. The cassettes are rotated on the rotaryplatform 30 and placed with their door against partition 4. The door ofthe cassette may be removed with a door opener. With the aid of arm 24,the substrates may be removed substrate by substrate and placed insubstrate rack 12 placed on swing arm 16 with the substrate handler.

In the interim the rotary platform 11 may be able to move in the reactorarea 21 in an optimum manner with regard to the treatments to be carriedout on the substrates present inside the reactor area 21. Aftersubstrate rack 12 has been filled in the substrate handling chamber 22and may become available to one of the reactor chambers 6, 7, opening19, which was closed up to this time, is opened and said freshly filledsubstrate rack 12 may be placed on rotary platform 11. Said rotaryplatform 11 may then move one position and the filled substrate rack 12may be removed from platform 11 with the help of insertion arm 14 intothe reactor chambers 6, 7. Treated substrates in a finished rack may belowered on said filled platform 11. Said substrates execute a movementcounter to the above to end up in the cassettes.

The substrate rack 12 with the fresh substrate may be fed to reactorchamber 6 or 7 with the insertion arms 14 and may be treated in saidchamber. The treatment may comprise an increase of the temperature ofthe substrates in the substrate rack 12 with a heater. It is importantto accurately control the substrate temperature to bring the substrateto the desired temperature before the treatment begins to get the rightproductivity.

The substrate may comprise features that are temperature sensitive andtherefor the temperature may be limited to a certain maximum to avoiddamage to those sensitive features. This may lead to contradictingrequirements in which for reactivity the temperature of the substratemay desirably be high, while the temperature of the substrate maydesirably be low to avoid damaging the temperature sensitive features onthe substrate.

It may be possible to perform a successive treatment in the reactorchamber 6, 7. The substrate rack 12 with substrates processed in thefirst reactor 6 may be transferred to the second reactor 7 for furthertreatment. The second reactor 7 may for example comprise an illuminationsystem constructed and arranged to irradiate ultraviolet radiationwithin a range from 100 to 500 nanometers onto a top surface of at leastone of the substrates in the substrate rack from a side of the substraterack. The illumination system may be constructed and arranged to radiateultraviolet radiation with a range from 100 to 500, preferably 150 to400, and even more preferably 170 to 300 nanometers. By irradiating thetop surface of the substrates from the side with ultraviolet radiationit may be possible to provide energy to the top surface for certainprocesses.

The energy may increase the reactivity on the top surface. This increaseof reactivity may be accomplished while not overheating the substrate sothat temperature sensitive features on the substrate may not getdamaged. The increase of reactivity may lead to a better quality of thedeposited layer and/or a higher productivity of the apparatus. It mayalso lead to certain processes becoming possible at a temperature onwhich before they were not possible because the reactivity was zero.

For example, the substrate processing apparatus may comprise a firstreactor 6 constructed and arranged to process a rack with a plurality ofsubstrates therein and a second reactor 7 may be constructed andarranged to process a substrate. The apparatus may have a substratetransfer device 51 comprising a rack and a substrate handler to transfersubstrates to and from the first reactor 6. The substrate handler may beused to transfer substrates to the substrate holder of the secondreactor 7 as well. The second reactor 7 may be provided with anillumination system 41 constructed and arranged to irradiate ultravioletradiation within a range from 100 to 500 nanometers onto a top surfaceof at least a substrate in the second reactor 7.

The first reactor 6 may comprise an inlet constructed and arranged toprovide a first precursor in the first reactor 6 to deposit a layer onthe substrates in the rack 12. The first precursor may comprise siliconto deposit a silicon comprising layer on the substrates in the firstreactor. For example, the first precursor may comprise siliconhalides,metalorganicsilicon, trisilane, disilane or silane. The first precursormay comprise a metal selected from the group of aluminum, titanium andhafnium, zirconium to deposit a metal comprising layer on the substratesin the first reactor. For example, the first precursor may be TiCL₄ orTMA.

The first reactor 6 may comprise an inlet constructed and arranged toprovide a second precursor in the first reactor 6 to react with thefirst precursor into the layer on the substrates in the rack 12 beforethe substrate is transferred to the second reactor for illumination. Thesecond precursor may comprise nitrogen to deposit a nitrogen comprisinglayer on the substrates in the first reactor. For example, the secondreactor may comprise NH₃, N₂H₄. The second precursor may comprise oxygento deposit an oxide layer on the substrates in the first reactor. Forexample, the second precursor can include H₂O, O₃, N₂O, and/or H₂O₂.

The first and second precursor may deposit on the substrates in thefirst reactor with an atomic layer deposition process or with a chemicalvapor deposition process.

After the layer is deposited, the rack may be moved down with thesubstrate transfer device and transferred from the first reactor 6 tothe second reactor 7. The substrate processing apparatus may comprise arack conveyer constructed and arranged to horizontally transfer a rackwith substrates from the first reactor 6 to the second reactor 7. Therack may be moved up into the second reactor 7 with an elevator.

The second reactor 7 may be constructed and arranged to receive thesubstrate rack in the reaction chamber. The second reactor may have anillumination system constructed and arranged to irradiate ultravioletradiation within a range from 100 to 500 nanometers onto a top surfaceof at least one of the substrates in the substrate rack. Theillumination system may irradiate the substrates from a side of thesubstrate rack. The quality of the deposited layer may be increased bythe ultraviolet radiation while not overheating the substrate. Aftertreatment with ultraviolet radiation, the substrate may be moved backfor a further layer to be deposited and the cycle of deposition andillumination may be repeated. If the layer is finished the substratesmay be transferred out of the apparatus.

By having the deposition process in the first reactor 6 and theillumination system in the second reactor 7, the deposition process maynot contaminate the illumination system in the second reactor 7. Thetransmission of ultraviolet radiation in the second reactor 7 maytherefore be substantially unaltered during the lifetime of theapparatus.

FIG. 3 shows a cross-section of a substrate rack 12 with a substrate 13that is illuminated from four sides in the second reactor 7 of FIGS. 1and 2 provided with the illumination system 41. The illumination system41 may comprise four parts, for example tubes 43, to irradiateultraviolet radiation to the substrate 13 from multiple sides. Theillumination system 41 may be configured to irradiate ultravioletradiation within a range from 100 to 500 nanometers.

The tubes 43 of the illumination system 41 may be elongated and extendin a direction perpendicular to the substrate surface. The tubes 43 ofthe illumination system 41 may extend over a part of the rack 12, overthe full length of the rack 12 or even a bit further. The tubes 43 ofthe illumination system may have a length of between 50 and 200 cm,preferably 75 and 150 cm to illuminate the substrates over the fulllength of the rack 12.

The illumination system 41 for illuminating the substrate surface mayhave a power of between 5 W and 100 kW, preferably 300 W and 20 kW andeven more preferably between 1 and 10 kW. The illumination system mayhave an efficiency of between 50 and 90% in the conversion of electricalenergy to ultraviolet radiation. The illumination system may have apower output of between 0.05 W and 1 kW per centimeter, preferablybetween 3 and 200 W per centimeter and most preferably between 10 and100 W per centimeter in the direction perpendicular to the substrates.

The substrate surface may receive a power between 0.1 and 200 milliwatt(mW)/cm², preferably between 1 and 100 mw/cm² and even more preferablybetween 5 and 80 mW. The illumination system may be constructed andarranged to radiate ultraviolet radiation with a range from 100 to 500,preferably 150 to 400, and even more preferably 170 to 300 nanometers.The rack 12 may have a length between 50 and 200 cm. The illuminationsystem may comprise an optical wave guide to guide the radiation to thesubstrates. The optical wave guide may comprise an optical fiber. Theillumination system may be provided with radiation reflecting surfacesto direct the ultraviolet radiation to the substrates.

The substrate 13 may be positioned in the substrate rack 12 which maycomprise three struts comprising a plurality of spaced apart substrateholding provisions configured to hold the plurality of substrates in aspaced apart relationship. The rack 12 may have a maximum of between 50and 200, preferably between 100 and 180 spaced apart substrate holdingprovisions along the struts for holding an equal amount of substrates.

For an optimal production, the rack may be filled until the maximum;however, to increase the power received on the substrates and to improvethe uniformity of the radiation received over the surface of thesubstrate, the number of substrates in the rack 12 may be made lowerthan the maximum. For example, the rack may be provided with 10 to 80 ofsubstrates in a spaced apart relationship. The distance between thesubstrates in the rack may in such case between 5 to 200, preferably 20to 140 and most preferable between 40 mm to 100 mm.

The struts may be elongated and extend in a direction perpendicular tothe substrate surface. The plurality of substrates may be positionedparallel with each other in the substrate rack 12. The configuration ofthe substrate rack 12 and the illuminations system 41 causes theillumination 41 to irradiate the ultraviolet radiation onto a topsurface of at least one of the substrates in the substrate rack from aside of the substrate rack 12. As depicted, the illumination system maycomprise four parts to irradiate ultraviolet radiation from four sidesto the substrate. Illuminating from four sides may improve theuniformity of the illumination received on the substrate. Theillumination system may also have one, two, three or four parts, whichilluminate the substrate surface.

Ultraviolet radiation may be creating a plasma in gasses through whichit may traverse. The plasma may be helpful or unwanted for the processesrunning in the reaction chamber.

If the plasma is unwanted, the apparatus may be constructed and arrangedto suppress plasma in the second reaction chamber 7. The apparatus mayalso be constructed and arranged to obstruct the plasma from propagatinginto the second reaction chamber 7. For example, by providing theapparatus with plasma shielding, e.g., conductive wiring or coatings,the plasma may be suppressed or obstructed before it reaches thereaction chamber. The apparatus may also be provided with a program,which when run on the apparatus, selects the gas, pressure range and/orpower range such that the creation of a plasma in the interior of thesecond reaction chamber 7 may be suppressed.

FIG. 4 a shows an illumination system 41 to be provided to the secondreaction chamber 7 formed in a helical form which may be used toilluminate the top surface of the substrates. The helically formedillumination system may be configured surrounding a substrate rack 12with substrates 13. The illumination system 41 may be a gas dischargelamp.

FIG. 4 b depicts a portion of a gas discharge lamp. Gas discharge lampsgenerate radiation by having an electric discharge between twoelectrodes through an ionized gas, e.g., a plasma in a tube 43. Suchlamps may use a noble gas such as argon, neon, krypton, and xenon or amixture thereof and additionally even may use mercury, sodium, and metalhalides in the mixture in the tube 43. The electrons may be forced toleave atoms of the gas near an anode by the electric field appliedbetween the two electrodes from which only one 45 is depicted, leavingthese atoms positively ionized. Free electrons flow to the anode, whilethe cations flow to the cathode. The ions may collide with neutral gasatoms, which transfer their electrons to the ions. The atoms, havinglost an electron during the collisions, ionize and speed toward thecathode while the ions, having gained an electron during the collisions,return to a lower energy state while releasing energy in the form ofradiation, which is emitted in the direction of the substrate topsurface of the substrate to transfer its energy into the top surface.The electrode 45 is mounted in a base 47 connected to the tube 43 andbeing provided with pins 49.

FIGS. 5 a to 5 d depict an illumination system according to a furtherembodiment. FIG. 5 a depicts a side view on the illumination system 41comprising individually controllable radiation sources, for examplelight emitting diodes, to control the power output for illuminating thesubstrates 13 from the side individually along a stack of substrates ina vertical direction. The illumination system 41 for emitting radiationbeams in the direction of the substrates 13 may be positioned on a sideof the rack 12. The illumination system 41 may irradiate radiation beamsfrom the side downward towards the top surface of the substrate 13. Asshown here, the illumination system only illuminates the top part of therack 12; however, in some cases, the illumination system 41 may beextended over the full length of the rack 12.

The angle of the radiation beams may be between 60 to 90° preferablybetween 80 to 89.5° and even more preferably between 85 and 89° withrespect to a line perpendicular to the top surface of the substrate 13.The radiation beam of the illumination system 41 may be slightlyparallel. The direction of the radiation beam of the illumination systemmay therefore be defined as the average direction of the radiationemitted by the illumination system 41.

The apparatus may comprise reflectors (not shown) on the other side ofthe substrate rack with respect to the illumination system 41 to reflectradiation reflected of the substrates 13 back to the substrate surface.The reflectors may be retroreflectors to reflect the radiation beam backin the same direction as from which the radiation beam came. Thereflector may comprise a material selected from the group of materialcomprising glass, steel, aluminum or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) todirect the radiation to the substrates.

The reflector may be provided with a polarizer to change thepolarization of the reflected light by 90 degrees to improve theabsorption of the reflected light. The polarizer may be a thin platewith a thickness of ⅛th of the wavelength positioned in front of thereflector.

The illumination system may have a first and second group ofindividually controllable radiation sources 91, 93. The first group ofindividually controllable radiation sources 91 may be directed to asurface of the substrate 13 further away from the edge and have anincreased power output with respect to the second group of individuallycontrollable radiation sources 93 directed to top surface near the edgeof the substrate 13. The uniformity of the radiation intensity over thesubstrate surface may be increased in this way. If the radiationintensity is uniform over the substrate surface, the reactivity increaseby the illumination system 41 over the substrate surface becomes thesame, which is advantageously for process control.

As depicted, the illumination system 41 may be directly illuminating thesubstrate 13; however, the reaction chamber may also be limited by aprocess tube in between the illumination system and the substrates 13.The process tube may be forming a barrier for processing gasses and atleast partially functioning as the radiation transmitting surface. Theillumination system 41 may be provided outside the reaction chamber andmay be constructed and arranged to irradiate the ultraviolet radiationthrough the radiation transmitting surface into the reaction chamber.The process tube may be protecting the illumination system 41 from thealleviated temperature and deposition products provided in the reactionchamber.

FIG. 5 b depicts a top view on the illumination system of FIG. 5 a . Ifthe illumination system is provided from one side only, a portion of thesubstrate 13 may be directly illuminated. By providing the apparatuswith a rotation device to rotate the substrate the substrate in adirection as depicted by the arrow 95, it may be assured that thesubstrate 13 is uniformly illuminated.

The substrate rack 12 may be provided at the bottom with an insulatingplug, which provides a seal with respect to the reaction chamber 6, 7,when the rack 12 is moved upward in the reaction chamber 6, 7 (see FIGS.1 and 2 ). To increase the uniformity of the illumination by theillumination system 41 the insulating plug may be provided with a (rack)rotation device for rotating the rack 12 with substrates 13 around avertical axis.

Rack rotation devices may be known from U.S. Pat. No. 9,018,567 B2,which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. The uniformity of theradiation intensity over the substrate surface may be increased in thisway. If the radiation intensity is uniform over the substrate surface,the reactivity increase by the illumination system 41 over the substratesurface becomes the same, which is advantageous for process control.

FIG. 5 c depicts a problem that may arise in the apparatus using theillumination system 41 to illuminate the substrates 13 and having a(rack) rotation device for rotating the rack 12 with substrates 13around a vertical axis of FIG. 5 b . The radiation of the illuminationsystem 41 may illuminate and or heat-up a part 12 a of the substraterack excessively. The radiation may scatter from the substrate rack 12through the ambient of the reaction chamber 6 illuminating parts of theapparatus that are not intended to be illuminated.

FIG. 5 d depicts an illumination system according to a furtherembodiment solving the problem of excessive illuminating and orheating-up a part 12 a of the substrate rack in FIG. 5 c . The substraterack 12 may be rotated to achieve a more uniform illuminationdistribution and circumvent excessive heating.

Further, the information of the shape of the substrate rack 12 and therotation position of the rack 12 that is available from the controlsystem may be used to switch off or limit the power of the part of theillumination system 41 that will be hitting the aforementioned part 12 aof the rack 12. A reduced amount of radiation may therefore be receivedby the part 12 a of the substrate rack 12 and less radiation may scatterfrom the substrate rack 12 through the ambient of the support memberilluminating and heating up parts of the apparatus that are not intendedto be illuminated or heated up.

The apparatus may comprise a power controller 97 to control the power ofthe illumination system 41 and the power controller may be programmed toadjust a radiation output of the illumination system 41 along the widthof the substrate rack to avoid excess heating of the substrate rack.

FIG. 6 depicts schematically a side view of a cross section of asubstrate processing apparatus with a first reactor 6 which is similarto the first reactor 6 of FIG. 1 and a second reactor 7. The secondreactor 7 may be provided with a substrate holder 50 constructed to holda single substrate 13 and an illumination system 41 constructed andarranged above the holder to illuminate a substrate 13 in the holder 50on the top side. The illumination system may irradiate ultravioletradiation within a range from 100 to 500 nanometers onto a top surfaceof at least a substrate in the second reactor. The second reactor 7 maybe provided with multiple, for example, five substrate holders 50 eachconstructed and arranged to hold a single substrate 13 under theillumination system 41.

The apparatus may have a substrate transfer device 51 comprising asubstrate handler to transfer substrates to and from the first andsecond reactor 6, 7. The substrate handler may be constructed andarranged to transfer substrates to and from spaced apart substrateholding provisions of a rack configured to hold a plurality ofsubstrates in a spaced apart relationship. The first reactor 6 may beconstructed and arranged to receive the substrate rack in the firstreactor 6. The substrate transfer device 51 may comprise an elevatorconstructed and arranged to move the rack in the first reactor 6.

The substrate handler of the substrate transfer device 51 may also beused to transfer substrates to the substrate holder 50 of the secondreactor 7. In this case a single substrate is transferred to thesubstrate holder 50. The illumination system 41 may comprise a radiationsource (a light emitting diode, an excimer source (lamp or laser), aMercury-vapor lamp, laser) irradiating ultraviolet radiation onto thetop surface of the substrate 13.

The substrate handler may be constructed and arranged to transfersubstrates in a first direction towards the first reactor 6 and in asecond direction towards the second reactor 7. The first and seconddirection may form an angle of 90 to 180 degrees with each other. Thesubstrate transfer device may be provided in a substrate transfer devicechamber 53 which is provided with an inert space.

The substrate transfer device chamber may be provided with an inertspace creation system, e.g., a nitrogen purge system, a vacuumevacuation system or a low oxygen system to create an inert space in thesubstrate transfer device chamber 55. The inert space in the substratetransfer device chamber 53 may circumvent oxidation of layers depositedon substrates 13 in the first reactor 6 during transfer to the secondreactor 7 for treatment by the illumination system 41.

The second reactor 7 may also be provided with an inert space creationsystem, e.g., a nitrogen purge system, a vacuum evacuation system or alow oxygen system to create an inert space in the second reactor for thesame reason.

The second reactor 7 may be provided with a cleaning inlet to provide acleaning gas (e.g., etch reactant) in the second reactor to cleanoutgassing products away in the second reactor or to prepare asubstrate.

The substrate processing apparatus may be used to process a substrate byproviding a substrate in a rack with a plurality of substrates andloading the rack with a plurality of substrates in the first reactor 6with the substrate transfer device 51. Subsequently a first, andoptionally also, a second precursor may be provided in the first reactorto deposit a layer on the substrates.

The rack with the processed substrates may be lowered from the firstreactor 6 with the elevator of the substrate transfer device 51. Thesubstrates with the deposited layer may be transferred from the rack tothe substrate holders 50 of the second reactor 7 with the substratehandler of the substrate transfer device 51. The deposited layer of thesubstrate on the substrate holder 50 in the second reactor 7 may beilluminated with ultraviolet radiation within a range from 100 to 500nanometers.

The illuminated substrates 13 may be transferred from the second reactor7 to the first reactor 6 with the substrate transfer device 51 again todeposit a further layer on the substrates 13. After deposition thesubstrate with the deposited further layer may be transferred to thesecond reactor 7 again for illumination with ultraviolet radiationwithin a range from 100 to 500 nanometers. In this way thin layers offreshly deposited material may be treated with ultraviolet radiationrepeatedly. The latter may be advantageous when the deposited materialhas a limited transmissivity for ultraviolet radiation making itdifficult to improve the quality of the layer in depth. If thesubstrates are ready the substrates may be transferred to the cassette10 with the substrate transfer device 51.

A first and second precursor may be provided in the first reactor 6 toreact with each other to form the layer on the substrates. The layersmay be deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) or chemical vapordeposition (CVD) reactions. The ultraviolet illumination system may beused to improve the quality of layers deposited by atomic layerdeposition (ALD) or chemical vapor deposition (CVD).

Before the substrates are provided in the first reactor 6 to deposit alayer thereon, the substrates may be illuminated in the second reactorwith ultraviolet radiation within a range from 100 to 500 nanometers toprepare the substrate. The second reactor may be provided with acleaning gas (e.g., etch reactant) to prepare the substrate.

A complementary periodical in situ clean with etch gases may be arequired in the second reactor to clean the radiation transmitting orreflecting surface in the apparatus. The apparatus may comprise anetching system. The etching system may comprise a fluid storage, acontrol system and a valve. The control system may be provided with aprogram when run on the control system to improve the transmissivity ofthe radiation transmitting or reflecting surface of the second reactor.

An etching fluid may be stored in the fluid storage of the etchingsystem. The control system may be controlling a valve for providing theetching fluid in the reaction chamber 6. The control system may controlthe valve to provide the etching fluent, i.e., etchant in the reactionchamber, so as to etch a layer deposited on the radiation transmittingor reflecting surface away to improve the transmissivity of the surface.

The etching fluid may be chloride (Cl₂), boriumchloride (BCl₃),hydrogenchloride (HCl), tetrafluoromethane (CF₄), nitrogentrifluoride(NF₃), hydrogenbromide (HBr), sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆), fluoride (F₂),chlorine trifluoride (CIF₃) or an ashing component created byultraviolet radiation in combination with an hydrogen or oxygencomprising gas, such as hydrogen or oxygen.

The particular implementations shown and described are illustrative ofthe invention and its best mode and are not intended to otherwise limitthe scope of the aspects and implementations in any way. Indeed, for thesake of brevity, conventional manufacturing, connection, preparation,and other functional aspects of the system may not be described indetail. Furthermore, the connecting lines shown in the various figuresare intended to represent exemplary functional relationships and/orphysical couplings between the various elements. Many alternative oradditional functional relationship or physical connections may bepresent in the practical system, and/or may be absent in someembodiments.

It is to be understood that the configurations and/or approachesdescribed herein are exemplary in nature, and that these specificembodiments or examples are not to be considered in a limiting sense,because numerous variations are possible. The specific routines ormethods described herein may represent one or more of any number ofprocessing strategies. Thus, the various acts illustrated may beperformed in the sequence illustrated, in other sequences, or omitted insome cases.

The subject matter of the present disclosure includes all novel andnonobvious combinations and sub combinations of the various processes,systems, and configurations, and other features, functions, acts, and/orproperties disclosed herein, as well as any and all equivalents thereof.

Although certain embodiments and examples are disclosed herein, it willbe understood by those in the art that the invention extends beyond thespecifically disclosed embodiments and/or uses of the invention andobvious modifications and equivalents thereof. Thus, it is intended thatthe scope of the invention disclosed should not be limited by theparticular disclosed embodiments described herein. The illustrationspresented herein are not meant to be actual views of any particularmaterial, structure, or device, but are merely idealized representationsthat are used to describe embodiments of the disclosure.

As used herein, the term “substrate” or “wafer” may refer to anyunderlying material or materials that may be used, or upon which, adevice, a circuit, or a film may be formed. The term “semiconductordevice structure” may refer to any portion of a processed, or partiallyprocessed, semiconductor structure that is, includes, or defines atleast a portion of an active or passive component of a semiconductordevice to be formed on or in a semiconductor substrate. For example,semiconductor device structures may include, active and passivecomponents of integrated circuits, such as, for example, transistors,memory elements, transducers, capacitors, resistors, conductive lines,conductive vias, and conductive contact pads.

1. A reaction chamber comprising: a rack configured to hold a pluralityof substrates; an illumination system constructed and arranged toirradiate ultraviolet radiation within a range from 100 to 500nanometers onto a top surface of each of the plurality of substrates inthe rack in the reaction chamber; and a power controller configured tocontrol the power of the illumination system, wherein the powercontroller is programmed to adjust a radiation output of theillumination system along a width of the rack.
 2. The reaction chamberof claim 1, wherein the illumination system comprises at least threeelongated radiation sources spaced about a periphery of the rack whenthe rack is positioned within the reaction chamber, each of theelongated radiation sources extending in a direction perpendicular tothe top surfaces of the plurality of the substrates and extending over afull length of the rack to illuminate the substrates over the fulllength of the rack.
 3. The reaction chamber of claim 2, wherein each ofthe at least three elongated radiation sources is arranged to generate aradiation beam from the side of the rack downward to one of the topsurfaces of the plurality of substrates, wherein the average directionof radiation of the radiation beam is at an angle in the range of 60 to90 degrees with respect to a line perpendicular to the top surfaces ofthe plurality of substrates.
 4. The reaction chamber of claim 3, whereinthe average direction of radiation of the radiation beam is at an anglein the range of 80 to 89.5 degrees with respect to a line perpendicularto the top surfaces of the plurality of substrates.
 5. The reactionchamber of claim 3, wherein the average direction of radiation of theradiation beam is at an angle in the range of 85 to 89 degrees withrespect to a line perpendicular to the top surfaces of the plurality ofsubstrates.
 6. The reaction chamber of claim 2, wherein each of theelongated radiation sources comprises a tube configured and wherein theillumination system illuminates at least three different sides of thesubstrate.
 7. The reaction chamber of claim 1, further comprising plasmashielding configured to suppress plasma in the reaction chamber.
 8. Thereaction chamber of claim 2, wherein the each of the elongated radiationsources comprises a radiation source irradiating ultraviolet radiationonto top surfaces of a plurality of the substrates.
 9. The reactionchamber of claim 1, the illumination system is constructed and arrangedto irradiate ultraviolet radiation within a range from 100 to 500nanometers onto the top surface from a side of the rack.
 10. Thereaction chamber of claim 1, further comprising an optical wave guide.11. The reaction chamber of claim 1, wherein the reaction chamber isprovided with an inert space creation system to create an inert space inthe reaction chamber.
 12. The reaction chamber of claim 1, wherein thereaction chamber is provided with a cleaning inlet to provide a cleaninggas in the reaction chamber to clean outgassing products away in thereaction chamber or prepare a substrate.
 13. The reaction chamber ofclaim 1, wherein the illumination system comprises a plurality ofindividually controllable radiation sources arranged in at least onelinear set that extends perpendicular to the top surfaces of theplurality of substrates along a full length of the rack, wherein thepower controller is programmed to adjust a radiation output of at leastone of the plurality of individually controllable radiation sourcesalong a width of the rack.
 14. The reaction chamber of claim 13, whereineach of the individually controllable radiation sources comprises alight emitting diode.
 15. The reaction chamber of claim 13, wherein eachof the plurality of individually controllable radiation sources isarranged to generate a radiation beam from the side of the rack downwardto one of the top surfaces of the plurality of substrates, wherein theaverage direction of radiation of the radiation beam is at an angle inthe range of 60 to 90 degrees with respect to a line perpendicular tothe top surfaces of the plurality of substrates.
 16. The reactionchamber of claim 15, wherein the average direction of radiation of theradiation beam is at an angle in the range of 80 to 89.5 degrees withrespect to a line perpendicular to the top surfaces of the plurality ofsubstrates.
 17. The reaction chamber of claim 15, wherein the averagedirection of radiation of the radiation beam is at an angle in the rangeof 85 to 89 degrees with respect to a line perpendicular to the topsurfaces of the plurality of substrates.
 18. The reaction chamber ofclaim 13, wherein the individually controllable radiation sourcescomprise a first group of the individually controllable radiationsources and a second group of the individually controllable radiationsources, wherein the first group of the individually controllableradiation sources is configured to direct radiation towards a firstportion of the top surfaces, and wherein the second group of theindividually controllable radiation sources is configured to directradiation towards a second portion of the top surfaces.
 19. The reactionchamber of claim 13, further comprising a rotation device to rotate theplurality of substrates in the reaction chamber about a vertical axisextending through the centers of the plurality of substrates, wherebyeach of the plurality of substrates is more uniformly illuminated by theillumination system.
 20. The reaction chamber of claim 1, wherein theillumination system comprises a helical shaped radiation source andwherein the rack is positionable within a center of the helical shapedradiation source, whereby the ultraviolet radiation is directed inwardfrom sides of the rack onto the top surface of each of the plurality ofsubstrates.